American Apparel has stirred up quite the controversy for decking out its mannequins with very visible patches of untamed pubic hair.

As of this morning, the storefront at the retailer’s East Houston location in New York features three mannequins clad in transparent white underwear, exposing their unkempt bikini lines and stopping window shoppers dead in their tracks.

But while some Twitter users have labeled the exhibition ‘kinda pervy’, the retailer has defended it by saying it is intended to start a conversation about society’s concept of feminine beauty.

District Visual Manager Dee Myles told the Observer that the display is meant to ‘bring rawness and newness to a holiday thought of as a romantic Hallmark holiday. . . by exploiting the lust of Valentine’s Day.’

She added that it’s important to ‘have instances spark up curiosity and conversation about what we deem beautiful and sexy.’